Who we are

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Dr Claes Belfrage

... is an International Political Economist with a particular interest in European Political Economy. He is interested in phenomena pertaining to “financialisation”, and continues to conduct research on the Swedish and Icelandic cases (the latter with Eirikur Bergmann (Bifrost University) and David Berry (Swansea University). He explores critical theoretical approaches and methods in this research, including Regulation Theories, Benjaminist, Gramscian and Cultural Political Economy. He has co-edited (with Owen Worth, Limerick University) a special issue on “Critical International Political Economy” in International Politics and another (with Caroline De La Porte, Southern Denmark University) on “Europe and the Crisis” in Perspectives on Europe. He is co-chair of the Council for European Studies’ network “European Integration and Global Political Economy”, and member of the advisory board of Capital As Power. He is also a visiting fellow at the Goethe University of Frankfurt.

Dr Gary Brown

... is interested in history, conflict and work from a broadly social constructivist perspective. His current research explores aspects of meaning-making, historical difference and discursive positioning in workplace settings in post-conflict Northern Ireland. He is particularly interested in the role of historical narratives in regulating the self-other nexus.

Mr Paul Cherpeau

...holds an ESRC studentship (2011-2014) and is working closely with Liverpool Chamber of Commerce. His research brings business history to bear on current policy issues and involves outreach to other local institutions, including Mersey Maritime and the Cotton Traders Association.

Ian Jones

... is a PhD research student currently receiving funding from the AHRC through a CDA. His research is focused on unlocking the wider potential of Barclays’ archives, particularly their customer records, within a business context; and encouraging utilisation of the archives by a greater variety of internal and external users.

Mr Harald Köpping

... is a PhD researcher, holding a research grant from Friedrich Ebert Foundation. Having completed an MA in European Studies from Maastricht University in 2011, his primary research interests include institutionalisation and European integration, which he views as an element of capitalist regulation. His PhD work argues that common theories of European integration correctly highlight the elite-driven nature of the European project, yet have failed to capture the social reality as well as the experience of Europe, particularly for those living in its periphery. Empirically, his main concern is the European asylum system, and the situation of asylum seekers across the European Union. Among his secondary interests is European space policy‌.

Dr Rory Miller

... is a business historian with particular interests in Latin America, and co-edits Journal of Latin American Studies for Cambridge University Press. He has also co-edited collections of essays on Business History in Latin America (Liverpool University Press, 1999, with Carlos Dávila) and on Football in the Americas (Institute for the Study of the Americas, London, 2007). His recent publications include Foreign Firms and Business History in Latin America (Bogotá, Universidad de los Andes, 2010), and Empresas britanicas, economia y politica en el Peru, 1850-1934 (Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos / Banco Central de Reserva del Peru, 2011), as well as contributions to the Unesco History of Latin America and to debates on Latin American business history in Business History Review and Entreprises et Histoire. His current research focuses on the experience of British multinational firms in Latin America since 1945, and the reasons for the decline of British business in the region.

Dr Sara Nadin

... I recently joined Liverpool as Senior Lecturer in HRM and Organisational Behaviour. With a background in sociology and psychology my current research interests concern constructions of entrepreneurship (& HRM) and how these are tied to / expressive of neo-liberal ideals and the rise of managerialism. My concern is with who these constructions exclude and marginalise, reflective of a shifting of responsibility to the individual for all things work related, whilst negating the role of structural / institutional factors. Some of these themes are explored in my existing papers on gender and informal entrepreneurship, and are reflected in my critical approach to the study of the ‘psychological contract’. Linked to this is my keen interest in questions of epistemology and methodology. Acknowledging our own ‘power base’ as academics, I believe in the need for reflexivity both at the practical and meta-theoretical level. In ‘giving voice’ to certain types of workers/ employees through our research, we also need to ask whose voices are silenced. In attempting to theorise some of these ideas I have been influenced by the work of Pierre Bourdieu & Beverley Skeggs as well as critiques of entrepreneurship (e.g. Jones & Spicer). Combining & theorising these ideas into a coherent whole is on-going and is likely to occupy me for the foreseeable future!

Adriana Nilsson

I am a Political Scientist working on issues of business representation, financialisation, transnational governance and institutions. Much of my research is interdisciplinary, straddling Business Studies and Political Science, and aims to explore strategies used by private and public actors to achieve their goals, as well as the impact of these activities on public policy and the functioning of markets. Existing empirical work spans different areas, from finance and banking regulation to health policy. My most recent work looks at the role of experts and international organisations in the transnational governance of access to medicines, innovation policy and intellectual property rights.

Dr Krista Pettit

...My dissertation is a one-year case study exploring the relationship between strategic renewal and occupational identity which encompass my two primary research interests, strategy and occupations. In addition to these two areas, I am also interested in research on organizational learning, qualitative methods and multi-level theory. Prior to returning to academia, I worked in Canada and Japan holding senior level positions in the financial services, software and real estate industries.

Professor Andrew Popp

Professor Andrew Popp serves as editor of the US-based business history journal Enterprise and Society and was previously reviews editor at Business History. He is also a co-director of the Centre for Port and Maritime History and is Visiting Professor at the Economic History Unit at the University of Gothenburg. He has published widely in the field of business history and his most recent monograph, Entrepreneurial Families, was published in 2012.

Dr Graeme Ridgeway

... retired from full time work in the University of Liverpool in 2003 and works now part-time as a University Teacher. However, he has retained research interests in a variety of topics including, practice theory, institutions, ethics and psychoanalysis in organisations. He has enjoyed three ‘careers’ over his working life, starting as an electronics engineer with English Electric in 1962, and then moving into manufacturing management in 1968, before joining the finance sector with HSBC in 1989. He retired from HSBC in 1998 at the age of 60. Following this retirement, he has worked full time in HE, first for three years as an Assistant Professor in Cyprus and on returning to the UK, he joined Liverpool in 2001 as a Lecturer in LIPAM. Now, finally, in a place where he has always wanted to be.‌

Dr Colette Russell

...Before completing her PhD at ULMS, Colette worked for 12 years as a senior transition manager in technology and outsourcing projects within the UK emergency services. Her research interests relate to methodology and the problem of structure and agency, particularly in relation to public sector change programmes.

Dr Andrew Smith

...I teach about international business and organizational change. My research interests centre on the evolution of business and financial institutions, international business, corporate governance, and political economy. I’m also interested in environmental management, entrepreneurship, and corporate governance. In the past, my research interests were geographically concentrated in the countries around the North Atlantic, although much of my current research is on business phenomena in East Asian economies such as Hong Kong. I use a variety of theoretical perspectives in my research, including concepts drawn from International Political Economy and International Relations, the Bloomington School, constitutive historicism, and postcolonial theory. I have also published a number of articles and book chapters on topics such as the taxation, ethnicity and international capital flows, race and business, entrepreneurship, and banking regulation history.I am a member of the British Academy of Management, the European Group for Organizational Studies, the Business History Conference, and the Association of Business Historians. I would be delighted to hear from prospective PhD students interested in any of the aforementioned topics or approaches.

Alan Southern

Alan Southern is the Co-Director of the Heseltine Institute and his work is mainly focused on the Liverpool local (social) economy. He is interested in the history of the city local economy, and particularly the representation of labour, its syndicalist past and the effect of the Port on the local economy.

Dr Mike Zundel

... investigates forms of managerial knowledge, wisdom and reflective learning, as well as questions of methodology, for example when trying to understand the emergence of social relationships and their implications for wider institutional systems. His has a continued interest in the works of Heidegger and Bateson and he has recently begun reading Kittler and keeps on struggling with this. He currently serves as senior editor for Organization Studies and consulting editor for the International Journal of Management Reviews.